Overcooked 2 – PS4 | Review

Overcooked was a brilliant game, so you won’t be surprised to learn the sequel is just as good. You will be cooking up just as much fun from the minute you start playing Overcooked 2 and thanks to new chefs, new kitchens and plenty of new recipes you can’t fail to have fun, oh and lots of arguments too.

Starting off with the story is always good and whether you are playing with two, three or four players, there’s plenty of levels to challenge your team as you go about building the cooking skills you’ll need in order to defeat ‘The Unbread’. To be honest, the story is a bit throwaway, so I won’t go into it too much, as all you’ll likely care about is cooking up and serving the new recipes which include the likes of Pizzas, Sushi and Burgers as well as all manner of other dishes.

Overcooked 2 likes to make things as difficult as it can for you, throwing in new recipes, moving platforms, busy roads and more; as if it’s not hard enough to serve up a dish when no-one on your team seems to be listening to you.

There are other mechanics too, such as platforms which you can move by yourself. In one level, for instance, you have to move the platform to one end to get the ingredients, move it again to boil the rice, then move it again to chop and cook, all before gathering the plates to serve. Trying to get the dishes served up on time, all while trying to organise yourselves and fight against the clock and impatient customers is very difficult indeed. Even with brilliant teamwork, as the levels go on, Overcooked 2 provides you with a very difficult challenge.

If I have one criticism of Overcooked 2 then it would be that there’s no Drop In/Out co-op. With three kids, when I was playing, someone would always come in saying “I want to play now,” at which point we would have to quit the game completely and go all the way back to the main menu just so they could join in. It would have been so much easier if someone was able to join in and drop out at will.

In between levels you are greeted with a world map overview which you can traverse around using a bus. This lets you revisit any level you wish, should you not have managed to gain the elusive three stars. There are also secret levels spread around the map too, which are well worth checking out, although these are even more difficult than the standard fare.

Away from the chaos of the Story mode, Overcooked 2 also offers up a Versus mode, where you’ll fight it out against each other, while there is also the ability to play the standard modes online. Here you’ll need to all team up with and make sure to talk to fellow chefs, otherwise, you’ll not stand a chance, especially in the later levels. They say too many cooks spoil the broth, well they certainly do, especially if no-one is listening to each other.

When it comes to presentation Overcooked 2 serves up more of the same as the original. It’s bright, colourful and easy on the eye. The framerate seems stable, even when there is a lot of chaos happening on the screen. The graphics aren’t really the focus here, but they do what they need to in order to add to what is a completely brilliant experience.

Final Impressions

There aren’t many great couch co-op games but Overcooked 2 is certainly one of them. Sure it may cause a few arguments and have you tearing your hair out at your fellow chef’s incompetence, but you’ll have so much fun playing this game you’ll never want to leave the kitchen. Buy it now, or forever regret it.